A History of the raising and adventures of the Liverpool Regiment of Blues by Walter Shairp, 1754

The Liverpool Blues were part of the English Volunteer Forces raised in 1745 to resist the Jacobite rebellion. This invasion of Northwest England was led by Bonnie Prince Charlie, his last armed attempt to regain the throne. This is the only surviving history written by a member of this force and gives a valuable first hand view of events written by a volunteer soldier. Walter Shairp was a lieutenant in Captain Spencer's company of Liverpool Blues, raised by the city during the emergency.

Historian Jonathan Oates, who has studied the rebellion, wrote that:

"Shairp's Memoir is a unique document in more than the sense that every archival document is unique. It is the only surviving history written by a member of the myriad English volunteer forces raised in 1745 to combat the rebellion... Nowhere else is there an account of what it was like to be a soldier in a volunteer unit on active service during the rebellion"

Source: 'The Jacobite Invasion of 1745 in North West England' by Jonathan D Oates (Centre for North West Regional Studies, University of Lancaster) 2006